​Andrew Whitehead'sBlog

The latest London Review of Books includes the following letter, in response to Perry Anderson's articles about Gandhi, Nehru and modern India:

Perry Anderson says that Kashmir became part of India in 1947 ‘with a forged declaration of accession’, and that the document then disappeared for ‘over half a century’. Not quite. The maharajah of Kashmir was pushed into joining India by an invasion of Pakistani tribesmen, and there’s little doubt that he signed the instrument of accession. A facsimile of the crucial page bearing his signature was published more than forty years ago, and the entire document was posted on the website of India’s Ministry of Home Affairs. However, when I sought permission to consult the original, I was told – it would be nice to think that the play on words was intentional – that the Indian government had ‘not acceded’ to my request.There is certainly something fishy about the circumstances of the accession. The evidence is compelling that the maharajah signed on 27 October, but was told to record the date as 26 October. In other words, he put his name to the document a few hours after India began an airlift of troops to the Kashmir valley (the beginning of a military presence that continues to this day), but in a manner which suggested it had been signed before the military operation began.Andrew Whitehead London NW5

The accession NEVER existed, proved by British Records. S. Wolpert & P. French too proved that. Patiala Sikh Infantry landed Srinagar by 17 th October, 1947(real aggression), 5 days before Pathantribal invasion from NWFP. Patiala Infantry actually landed Srinanagar in July 1947 itself secretly{Article: Genesis of Border Dispute by Anil Athale(of Gorkha Rehiment) in SUNDAY OBSERVER, MUMBAI(BOMBAY), 26 th October, 1997, p.2}. Maharaja delayed accession by >2 months, to gain time of road-bridge constructions between Pathankot & Jammu on war footing(during August-October, 1947) by Indian experts & large no. of labourers working day & night. A floating pontoon bridge on Ravi was necessary for Indian tanks & military vehicles to pass in October end of 1947. That too is written in the article. Do research on that too.

Reply

Harmukh

6/9/2013 23:06:59

All this talk about no accession document was started by the British authors hired by Pakistanis much later so as to give it some credibility. Why did Pakistan not protest this document in the UN and why did they agree that it happened unilaterally, in the first place if they were so adamant on proving this decades later they should have simply not agreed to the accession as a fact, clearly it was an afterthought that came years later.

Besides the Maharajah lived for another decade after the accession, his son was present there and is still alive did any one bother to ask him those questions while he was still alive? did he ever dispute that he did not want to accede to India? what choice did he have after the tribal and Pakistani regular attacked, raped, murdered and pillaged even Kashmiri muslims and innocent Christian missionaries and nuns on their way to Srinagar(the much worse and savage brutality committed on Hindus and Sikhs, especially women and children, obviously was their god given right in their minds so that does not even figure).

Then the Pakistanis claim that the Maharajah delayed accession so as to give the India army time

As to the Patiala state and other state troops, Pakistanis forget that princely states were not directly under British India and regularly sent troops if the other state demanded to quell internal disturbances in this case the partition riots which started in July, in J&K's case they always had Patiala state troops training and conducting exercises with the J&K troops so this was nothing new. The real truth is that the Pakistani regulars backed by the unruly Pathan tribesmen from two provinces away were the real unwanted and unwelcome invaders as far as the official position of the state of Jammu and Kashmir was concerned, not only that, Pakistani govt. also broke the stand still agreement with J&K just because it doubted that the Maharajah was about to accede to India.

The real fact that everyone forgets is the Maharajah had the real claim to Kashmir since his predecessors bought Kashmir from the British, who had annexed when all lands belonging to the Sikh kingdom were seized by them after the treaty of Lahore for 7.5 million coins. Would America ever give up Alaska after having paid for it?

Reply

Arshed ah

14/8/2017 11:49:38

dear harmukh,
let me clear ur doubt. india was asked by UN to prove its claim of accession, india failed citing document has been lost. i dont say india army landed in kashmir and maharaja acceded later. in fact i can assure there is no real document of accession, it is only lie forged by indians only. nehru was taken captive on arrival in kashmir. why? instrument displaying signature do not resemble those of maharaja's as recorded in museum.do u know this? about pakisan not contesting in UN, it is due to the fact that they were unaware of the fake accession. how come u have lost a document decades before comes to the scene all of a sudden? besides it can be challenged in international court of justice to settle the issue of fairness. india enacted a law in 1958 no court in the territory of india is authorized to take a petition against accession of any state to indian dominion. about maharaja he was not any authority after 1947 as per indian independence act besides nehru's remarks about maharaja calling a tyrant ruler nullifies his role. even if we accept your plea of pak invasion, maharaja was no more any authority as the area for which military assistance was sought was not under his control.